New Hampshire Lottery Commission
October 30, 2007
Meeting Minutes:
NEW HAMPSHIRE LOTTERY® COMMISSION
14 INTEGRA DRIVE, CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE 03301
MINUTES OF COMMISSION MEETING
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007
PRESENT:
Richard J. Campbell, Jr., Chairperson
Paul J. Holloway, Commissioner
Arthur P. Klemm, Jr., Commissioner
Rick Wisler, Executive Director
Diane Campbell, Administrative Assistant I
Georges Roy, Administrator III
Robert Preston, Games Manager
Leonard Mannino, Security Officer
Maura McCann, Programs Information Officer
Patrick Griffin, Griffin York & Krause, Inc.
Travis York, Griffin York & Krause, Inc.
Moe Pepin, SGI
Liz Dimmick, SGI
Barry Bodell, Administrative Services
Ed Dupont, The Dupont Group
Commissioner Campbell called the meeting to order at 1:07 p.m.
1. ACCEPTANCE AND SIGNING OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:
Commissioner Holloway made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Klemm, to approve the September 5, 2007 commission meeting minutes and the amendment to the July 19, 2007 commission meeting minutes. So voted, unanimous.
2. COMMISSION VOTE TO ADOPT AMENDED NEW HAMPSHIRE LOTTERY COMMISSION/OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY POLICIES:
Director Wisler stated the current policy was amended to reflect the Sweepstakes Commission name change to Lottery Commission and to update the employee policy to adhere to the Office of Information Technology’s requirements.
Commissioner Holloway made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Klemm, to approve the amended New Hampshire Lottery Commission/Office of Information Technology policy. So voted, unanimous.
3. COMMISSION ACTION ON NHPTV’S ADVERTISING REQUEST:
Director Wisler stated New Hampshire Public Television (NHPTV) had again submitted a proposal for advertising in support of their Granite State Challenge show at the same rate of $17,500. Director Wisler stated the proposal included an addition of video streamlining their one hour game show over the internet, which would help promote the Lottery as one of the sponsors by advertising the lottery’s logo. Commissioner Holloway made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Campbell, to approve the NHPTV’s request contingent upon NHPTV linking this to the Lottery’s website. So voted, unanimous.
A brief discussion was held on advertising means for promoting the Replay program to reflect it being offered also to out of state residents. The Commission expressed the importance of publicizing in as many areas as possible that the Replay program is open to all New Hampshire Lottery players.
4. COMMISSION VOTE TO APPROVE INITIAL PROPOSAL FOR AMENDED HOT LOTTO GAME RULES, SW 4000:
Commissioner Holloway made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Klemm, to approve the initial proposal of the amended Hot Lotto Game Rules, Sw 4000. So voted, unanimous.
5. TRI-STATE REPORT:
Maura McCann, Programs Information Officer, reported that the $20 New Year Millionaire Raffle game will go on sale this Thursday, November 1st. Ms. McCann stated 80,000 tickets will be available for sale in New Hampshire and a total of 200,000 tickets available for sale in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Advertising for the new game is underway. The next Fast Play game, Winner Green, will begin approximately November 18th. The Tri-State Product Development Committee is working on patterning Fast Play after the instant products in hopes of increasing price points and number of games offered from one game per quarter to multiple games.
Ms. McCann announced that plans were underway for the Holiday Bonus Campaign. Each year the Tri-State expired, unclaimed prize monies are allocated for this campaign based on prorated sales from each state. New Hampshire will have $500,000 for the Holiday Bonus and additional Fast Play prizes.
A random number generator will be used to produce the winning raffle numbers for the Tri-State New Year Millionaire Raffle game. The system was purchased from the Multi-State Lottery Association and will be housed in the draw room at the Lottery. The drawing will be held on January 4, 2008 at approximately 10:00 a.m. Ms. McCann stated a lottery website feature has been added for players to verify their raffle ticket numbers after the drawing by clicking on “Did I Win With Raffle?” The 341 winning raffle numbers will also be printed in the newspapers. Commissioner Klemm requested that a lottery terminal message be sent as soon as possible to all New Hampshire lottery retailers informing them of the drawing date.
A Paycheck survey was recently provided to lottery players in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and the results will be considered in development of the Paycheck replacement game and Megabucks game change.
Commissioner Campbell stated the August financials were discussed at the meeting. The September financials indicated New Hampshire was up 7.6% compared to last year’s year to date sales. The Tri-State Commission approved the proposal to have the Random Number Generator certified by GLI at a cost of $5,900. Commissioner Campbell stated the next Tri-State Commission meeting will be on November 9, 2007 at 11:30 a.m.
6. UPDATE ON LAUNCH OF $30 TICKET AND $20 RAFFLE GAME:
Robert Preston, Games Manager, stated there were two new $20 instant games to be printed with florescent colors. The florescent colors are being used in the production to help differentiate the appearance of the $10 and $20 tickets. The minimum prize on these $20 games will be $25 instead of $20. Director Wisler stated the total number of tickets ordered has been reduced from 400,000 to 300,000 for the purpose of creating a shorter shelf life and to create more player excitement. Mr. Preston distributed the proof of the upcoming $30 instant ticket, produced in reds and golds for a distinct look.
A brief discussion was held on recent weekly sales trends for the various instant ticket price points. The $5 and $10 ticket sales are doing well. The reports indicated a decrease in sales for the $20 and $1.
Commissioner Klemm stressed the importance of the Lottery providing an adequate supply of all instant tickets to licensed retailers during the upcoming holiday season, with emphasis on the $20 and $30 tickets.
The Commission expressed that in the future the Lottery should strive for maximum sales goals, especially taking into consideration the timing for releasing a new game during holiday weekends.
Georges Roy stated the projected net revenue for the month of December is $8.4 million. Mr. Roy also stated $275 million in sales would need to be generated in order to meet the projected revenue of $85 million for Fiscal Year 2008.
7. ADVERTISING:
Travis York of Griffin York & Krause stated advertising for the launch of the $30 Polar Express instant ticket ran from October 15-22 and will be back on air November 12th to reenergize the game. Commissioner Holloway suggested the advertising for the game begin the weekend before the November 12th Veterans Day holiday to maximize sales.
Mr. York stated the Replay out of state conversion did go live yesterday and a demographic survey will be conducted. Ms. McCann stated a total of 36 out of state residents had registered for Replay since October 29th at 10:00 when opened to all New Hampshire Lottery players. Ms. McCann indicated a lot of repeat marketing partners were connected with the Replay program and she receives up to six requests per week from interested participants as marketing partners. Mr. Griffin updated the Commission on marketing partners and prizes.
Mr. York gave the status of three major initiatives: the jackpot alert system to players via text messaging or and email scheduled to go live in mid December; Lottery Star website expected to launch in February, 2008, and Lottery website project by the end of the fiscal year.
Mr. York stated over 200,000 tickets are being played through Replay every week. Email address confirmation of Replay registrants has begun for the purpose of validating their correct email addresses, which is a valuable communication system to players about prize and lottery information. This will be done over a 30 day period in exchange for Replay points. Currently, about 25% of all email subscribers have confirmed their email addresses, and after November 9th the system will prompt players to confirm their email addresses when they log in to the Replay site. Mr. York announced there are approximately 108,000 Replay registrants.
8. OTHER BUSINESS:
The Commission commended Maura McCann for receiving her second Powers Award at the recent National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries conference.
Commissioner Holloway held a short discussion with Moe Pepin of Scientific Games regarding lottery terminal servicing with Scientific Games.
Commissioner Holloway made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Klemm, to adjourn the commission meeting at 2:20 p.m. and convene the work session. The work session was held to discuss succession planning which concluded at 3:15 and no commission votes were taken. So voted, unanimous.
Richard J. Campbell, Jr., Chairperson
Paul J. Holloway, Commissioner
Arthur P. Klemm, Jr., Commissioner